A part-time teacher wants to make sure she is not short-changed by Madison Area Technical College, and is suing the college over $84.47 worth of unpaid wages.

According to a filed complaint against MATC, part-time teacher Mary Beth Manning is leading a class action lawsuit on behalf of her and 40 other part-time teachers.

The complaint states Manning was underpaid approximately $85 for two courses she taught at MATC in the fall of 2008. In total, the 40 faculty members suing the school were allegedly underpaid by $17,000.

A press release from the MATC Part-Time-Teachers’ Union said the union has been trying to resolve this issue with administration for the past 18 months.

Of the 2,400 courses at MATC, approximately 100 part-time course instructors were underpaid, said Mike Kent, MATC part-time teachers’ union president.

“Because they’re part-time faculty members, the college thinks they can overlook their claims,” Kent said.

In the fall of 2008, the union was given MATC’s payroll and found several wage errors. These errors were brought to the school’s attention, and they have not been resolved since, Kent said.

“Over the last few years, part-time union members have had dozens of problems with being paid incorrectly from MATC,” said Kent.

When the part-time teachers union tried to resolve unpaid salary claims without a lawsuit, the college usually takes up to a year to solve these issues, he said.

Kent said these payment mistakes are a result of MATC’s new payroll system for part-time employees. The system was implemented in the fall of 2008, the same semester Manning claims she was underpaid.

In a statement from the MATC Teacher’s Union, the new “lump sum” payroll model no longer requires employees to submit time sheets. Instead, part-time instructors receive payments based on a formula negotiated between the union and the college.

The union presented the errors they found in MATC’s payroll data from the fall of 2008 to the college, explained Kent. More errors were found in the spring 2009 data.

After these instances were brought to the school’s attention, MATC refused to provide the union with any further payroll data, Kent said.

Kent also explained under Wisconsin law, all wage claims must be filed within two years of the indiscretion.

“We were running out of time, so we contacted the part-time employees who were underpaid and encouraged them to file a class action lawsuit against MATC,” Kent said.

MATC defense attorney Jon Anderson said payroll records show Manning has been paid her full wages.

However, Anderson said there may be other payroll mistakes.

“MATC employs thousands of people, so payment mistakes are bound to occur,” Anderson said.

Anderson said it is difficult to determine if the other employees were correctly paid because the claim was filed by Manning on their behalf.

“We can’t research these unknown employees or their claims for the case at this time,” said Anderson. “The college will defend this and show that they have paid what they owe.”